In February 2006, having spent around $7 million of taxpayers’ money trying to fix up an unstable tailings dam abandoned by a failed copper and zinc mining enterprise, the Department of Primary Industries was moved to ask the Register of Geographic Names to call the dam ‘Lake St Barbara’. Ironically, in Spanish and Italian, the …
There will be a review of the 5% burn target, with the report delivered by the end of March (6 weeks)! The Minister’s media release says: “The review will examine a risk-based approach to bushfire fuel management against the existing hectare-based performance target program. The Inspector-General for Emergency Management has been asked to deliver his …
Stopping logging in Victoria’s central highlands would drive tens of millions of dollars into state coffers if the move was included under the Abbott government’s emissions reduction fund. Fairfax Media has seen a confidential brief prepared for the federal environment minister, Greg Hunt, which found ending logging in the highland forests, north-east of Melbourne, would …
VICTORIA’S environment minister will visit the high country as cattlemen continue lobbying the government over alpine grazing. The State Government last month shelved a three-year trial which looked at the role of cattle grazing in preventing fire risk at the Alpine National Park. Environment Minister Lisa Neville at the time said “science is clear” that …
LIMA: The carbon bubble is no longer a concept promoted by environmental types, or a warning from progressive analysts in the mainstream investment banks. It is now officially recognized as a potential systemic risk to global financial markets. The Bank of England has revealed that it will broaden its investigation into “unburnable carbon” – and …
In 2013-14 MyEnvironment requested an IBAC review of Victorian Auditor General’s Office audit ‘Managing Victoria’s Native Forest Timber Resources’ on the following grounds: In 2013, the Victorian Auditor General’s Office made the following statement: “ VicForests does not receive any government subsidies ” yet this paper shows that VicForests receives annual subsidies of approximately …
The Victorian Government stands accused of all but guaranteeing the extinction of threatened Mallee birds as a consequence of its bushfire prevention policy. The Mallee emu-wren, in particular, is just one fire away from being wiped from the planet. The claim is made in a new report from Birdlife Australia, being tabled this weekend at …
State Labor has dumped a plan to create a new national park in the central highlands to protect the endangered Leadbeater’s possum following an intervention from the CFMEU. It is understood Labor remains riven by internal debate over whether to back a proposal to create a Great Forest national park stretching from Kinglake to Mt …
At the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit, which concluded yesterday in Sydney, environment minister Greg Hunt announced A$6 million to combat illegal logging. While the funding builds on legislation to ensure Australian goods are sourced legally, is this the deal Hunt was after to save rainforests? The summit was a Coalition election promise, highlighting the importance of …
State’s leading environment groups are joining forces to fight what they call ‘wholesale attack on state’s environmental assets’ The Victorian Coalition government has the worst record on the environment since the 1960s, according to the state’s four leading environment groups, which will join forces in an unprecedented way to fight what they say is a …
